Senior Principal, Forward Deployed Engineer

Shape the Future of AI in Healthcare At Cigna, we use technology, data, and human insight to improve how people access and experience care. As a Senior Principal, Forward Deployed Engineer, you will serve as the technical leader for AI innovation within the AQUA organization. You will partner directly with business leaders to identify high-impact opportunities, design scalable AI solutions, and establish the engineering standards that enable teams to deliver measurable outcomes. This is a highly visible leadership role where strategic thinking, technical excellence, and stakeholder influence come together to transform complex business challenges into practical AI-powered solutions.

Drive AI Strategy and Technical Excellence Define the AI architecture, engineering standards, and reusable solution patterns that accelerate delivery across the AQUA portfolio. Lead the design and implementation of complex AI solutions, ensuring they are scalable, secure, reliable, and production-ready. Evaluate and apply the most effective technologies, including LLMs, RAG architectures, agentic systems, machine learning, and hybrid approaches. Establish best practices for evaluation, observability, governance, risk management, and cost optimization. Create reusable frameworks, documentation, and playbooks that improve delivery quality and speed across engagements. Partner with the Business to Deliver Outcomes Collaborate closely with business stakeholders to identify opportunities where AI can create measurable value. Guide engagements from discovery and solution design through delivery and operational transition. Translate complex business requirements into practical technical solutions with clear success criteria. Provide executive-level updates on progress, risks, outcomes, and strategic recommendations. Make informed decisions in ambiguous situations while balancing business priorities, technical feasibility, and long-term value. Influence, Mentor, and Scale Serve as the trusted technical advisor for senior leadership and key stakeholders. Lead architectural reviews, strategy discussions, and cross-functional alignment efforts. Mentor Principal and senior engineers, raising technical standards and fostering a culture of excellence. Identify repeatable solutions that can evolve into broader enterprise capabilities and platforms. Strengthen collaboration across product, engineering, security, legal, compliance, and data science teams.

12+ years of software engineering, AI/ML engineering, or related experience, including leadership of complex enterprise initiatives. Deep expertise in AI engineering, including large language models, RAG architectures, agentic workflows, model evaluation, and production AI systems. Strong proficiency in Python and experience with enterprise technologies such as SQL, Java, TypeScript, or Go. Experience building, deploying, and operating AI/ML solutions in AWS, Azure, or GCP environments. Proven success defining technical strategy and influencing outcomes across multiple teams and stakeholders. Strong understanding of responsible AI principles, including privacy, security, governance, human oversight, and risk mitigation. Exceptional communication skills with the ability to engage technical, business, and executive audiences. Demonstrated ability to lead initiatives in highly matrixed, complex organizations.

Experience in healthcare, insurance, pharmacy, clinical, or care management environments. Experience in forward-deployed engineering, solutions engineering, technical consulting, or customer-facing technology leadership roles. Experience leading discovery workshops, design sprints, or product strategy engagements. Familiarity with HIPAA, model risk management frameworks, and AI governance practices. Experience with Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex AI, Anthropic, or open-source AI platforms. Bachelor's degree in Computer Science,